


Welcome Home

by okay_klepto



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Bittersweet, Canon Rewrite, Canon Universe, Family, Fluff, Gen, Lance gets to see his siblings and nieces and nephews again, M/M, Mutual Pining, Season/Series 07, back on earth, idk how to say that this is a rewrite of the coming to earth scene, it's how it SHOULD HAVE GONE, pining shiro, they're in cuba
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-06-29 09:31:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15726693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okay_klepto/pseuds/okay_klepto
Summary: Going back to Earth was a long, stressful trip, but it was worth it, especially for Lance. Finally, after an eternity away from anyone that was family, he can hug his mother and father, play with his nieces and nephews, pick on his siblings, and remember that there's still a home for him in this vast universe.  But life back home doesn't stop just because someone leaves, and what's missed can't be made up.





	Welcome Home

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, it's like a year and a half late, but better late than never, right?
> 
> I have certain ideas about Lance's family and stuff, so if you have questions about it, leaving a comment or shoot me a message on Tumblr.
> 
> This was also originally going to be one, long fic, but then I didn't write it so I decided to post it in two chapters. One chapter might be a mile longer than the other, and I have no idea when the other chapter will be up so pls don't ask.

   Lance was practically running up the driveway that wrapped itself around a grassy hill.

   “And I used to have to mow the lawn like every other day in the summer,” he panted, turning back to face the other paladins.  “It was always so hot, and I would practically fry in the sun, but I always wore this giant hat my dad gave to me so my face stayed sun-spot free!”

   The other paladins nodded or gave Lance a thumbs up as they heaved themselves along behind.

   “Why summer?”  Pidge groaned. “Why Cuba?  Why on top of a mountain?”

   “Yes, I - wow,” Coran breathed, “I didn’t realize that Earth could get so hot.”

   “You don’t even know,” Hunk said flatly.  “And how is he still wearing that jacket!”

   “And we used to go grass sledding,” Lance continued, glancing back to the others, “like in Pokemon.  Do you remember that episode where they went grass sledding?  It didn’t work as well as it did in the show though…”

   After what felt like a year was climbing, the paladins reached the house that was sitting on top of the hill.  Just as Lance had said, it was light blue with white shutters and a big porch, flowers growing in large beds on either side and along the sidewalk.  There seemed to be fruit trees growing in the backyard, and a small playset and trampoline sat off to one side. There was even a decent sized pool in the back.

   “And there are the mango and papaya trees!  I guess Dad is still keeping them growing, but I don’t know if anyone takes the fruit down to the farmers’ market on Saturdays.  I used to do that with him, but I ended up doing it on my own once I got older.  I’d ride my bike with crates of fruit and set up my little table and make a buck or two.  We couldn’t go all the time since the trees don’t produce fruit that often.”

   “I didn’t know Lance could be such a chatterbox,” Keith muttered as he tightened the knot in his jacket tied around his waist.

   “He’s just happy to be home,” Shiro defended.  “The last time he was here was before we even discovered the Lions.”

   “A… ‘chatterbox?’”  Allura questioned from beside Shiro.

   “Someone who talks a lot.”

   Allura nodded understandingly.

   Lance bounded up the steps of the porch as the others walked along the sidewalk, Allura and Coran admiring the brightly colored flowers along the path.  Out of habit, Lance wiped his feel on the worn-out welcome mat.  He shook out his arms as he stared at the door.  He remembered walking through that door every day when he came home from school, always greeted by his mother, and for some time, a dog.  The door was open on extremely hot days, and he would always get yelled at for leaving his shoes in the doorway.  He had been through that door a million times before, but why was today too hard?

   “Lance?”

   Lance felt a gentle hand rest on his shoulder.  He turned and saw Shiro gazing down at him.

   “You good?”

   “Yeah…” Lance moved his eyes to look at the faded welcome mat.  “It’s just… It’s been a while.”

   “Things will be alright.  Just knock.”

   Lance nodded and looked back at the off-white door.  He raised his hand and formed a fist just an inch from the door.  His hand quivered, almost like he was knocking on a door for a first date.  He drew a calming breath before knocking on the door three times and taking a step back.  There was silence for a second before a woman’s voice rang out from inside the house.  She sounded far away, and none of the paladins could understand what she had said since she had spoken spanish, but it seemed to make Lance smile.

   The doorknob turned and the door creaked open, the face of a plump woman appearing in the opening.

   “Si?”  The smile on her face fell to a look of disbelief.  She stared at the boy - now man - before her, dressed in oh-so-familiar clothes and donning an oh-so-familiar smile.

   “Hi, Mama.”  Lance smiled sheepishly as he looked at the woman in front of him.

   “You’re…”  She took a cautious step towards Lance before putting her hands on each of his cheeks.  She stared at him, shocked, as Lance put his hands on top of her.  “It’s really you?”

   Lance nodded, his eyes starting to fill with tears just like his mother’s.  She took her hands away from Lance’s cheeks and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug, Lance hugging back.

   “Oh, Lance!  Lance!” she sobbed.  “You’re alive!  I- We- You-”

   She began rambling in Spanish as she cried into Lance’s shoulder, Lance responding in short phrases that were mainly Spanish.

   “And- and-”  She pushed herself out of Lance’s embrace and looked at him, her hands still on his shoulders.  “And you kept the jacket!”

   “Yeah.”  Lance looked down at himself.  “It… It reminded me of you guys, and kept me warm.”

   “I just…” Lance’s mother wiped her eyes.  “I just can’t believe that you’re here, and alright.  What happened?  I got a call from the Garrison and there was a search and an investigation and we- we-” her eyes began to well up with tears again.

   “I know, Mama…”  Lance’s voice held a sorrow and serenity that the paladins had never heard before.  His eyes and smile fell.  “I’ll… I’ll have to explain that all a little bit later.”

   “Will I want to know?” his mother whispered.  “Did something horrible happen?”

   Lance was silent for another moment as he fiddled with the zipper on his jacket.  “It’s… There’s a lot and I only want to say it once.”

   Lance’s mother smiled understandingly.

   “But there are also a few people I want you to meet.”  Lance looked behind himself, his smile returning. “They’ve been with me the entire time.”

   Lance’s mother looked up and over Lance’s shoulder.  “It wasn’t just you and the two other kids?”

   Lance squeezed his mother’s hand.  “No, but I’ll explain.  Just, let me introduce.”

   Lance took a step back to his mother could see everyone.

   “This is Katie Holt, but we call her Pidge.”

   Mrs McClain smiled as she shook Pidge’s hand.  “I remember that name from the news reports.”

   “And you remember Hunk?”

   Mrs McClain clapped her hands as she opened her arms to hug Hunk.  “How could I forget!  And look how much you have grown!  I always knew you would grow up to be a real gentleman.”

   Hunk hugged her back.  “It’s good to see you again, Mrs McClain.”

   “And this is Keith Kogane,” Lance said.

   “I think I remember that name, as well.  You were at the top of the flight class, yes?”

   “I was, ma’am,” Keith said proudly.

   “That’s right!  Lance would always go on about how there was some black-haired boy he needed to score higher than.”  Mrs McClain chuckled.  “He really did train hard, you know?”

   “I’m sure he did.”

   “Yeah, and I was a great pilot!” Lance defended.

   “I never said you weren’t a good pilot, sweetie!”  Mrs McClain smiled again.  “I know you also did your very best, and it really paid off.  You’re just like your father.”

   Lance smiled wide, though a little embarrassedly, as his mother showered him with compliments.  He turned back to the group.

   “This is Allura, and Coran.”  Lance gestured to each of them.

   “It really is a pleasure to meet the mother of such a fine paladin as Lance!” Coran announced as he took Mrs McClain’s hand and pressed a kiss to it.  “You must be honored to have such a brave and valiant such, risking his li-”

   “Alright!”  Lance pulled Coran’s hand away from his mother’s.  He turned to her.  “He’s very vibrant.”

   “I can tell.”  Mrs McClain’s brow furrowed.  “But what was he saying about being a 'paladin?'”

   “That’s... ”  Lance shrugged defeatedly.  “It’s a whole _thing._ ”

   “Oh.”  Mrs McClain turned back to Allura.  “Nice to meet you, as well.”

   “Yes!  Likewise!”  Allura smiled.

   “Oh!  Are you both from England?”  Mrs McClain’s voice was innocent.  “Or Australia?”

   Allura looked to Coran then to Lance.  “No, we’re from-”

   “That’s another… _thing,_ ” Lance interrupted.

   “There are a lot of ‘things,’”  Mrs McClain commented.

   “Yeah…”  Lance straightened himself back up as he caught their leader out of the corner of his eyes.  “And um… Mama, this is Shiro.”

   Mrs McClain took Shiro’s outstretched hand.

   “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Shiro greeted with a warm smile.  “Lance has been talking nonstop about you and Cuba for days. Your flowers do look lovely.  Did you plant them yourself?”

   “Oh!  Yes!” A blush crept onto Mrs McClain’s cheeks as Shiro’s words swept her off her feet.  “I plant them every year, unless they’re perennials, of course.”

   “You really do have an eye for color.”

   “Yes…”  Mrs McClain leaned closer to Shiro.  “Did… Do I know who you are?”

   Shiro paused, taken aback by her question.  “Well, we’ve never-”

   “Wait!”  Mrs McClain put up her hand.  “You’re Shiro? _The_ Shiro?  From the Garrison?”

   “Well, I suppose so…”

   “Oh!”  Mrs McClain suddenly became overly excited.  “I can’t believe you finally got to meet your hero for real!  And spend so much time with him!  I hope you weren’t too shy, honey.”

   Shiro chuckled awkwardly.  “Lance has been a great teammate.  He’s very talented and intelligent.  I don’t doubt he gets some of that from his mother.”

   “Oh my!  You are just such a gentleman.”  Mrs McClain smiled at Lance and pinched his cheek.  “No wonder you took such a liking to him, huh?  He would always talk about this instructor who had set all of these records and how he was going to do that, not to mention him watching every interview with you over and over, especially the ones for Kerberos, and having all of these posters and pictures he-”

   “Mama!”  Lance cut his mother’s words off before she could continue divulging embarrassing details about his near obsession with one Takashi Shirogane from his Garrison days, particularly right in front of the man he still idolized.

   “I’m sorry, sweetie!  I got… _carried away._ ”  A sly smile worked its way onto Mrs McClain’s lips as Lance turned his eyes to the floor and crossed his arms.  Shiro smiled at the obvious flush on Lance’s cheeks, and at the fact his mother was so good at embarrassing her son.  Gosh, he was cute.

   “Well, now that introductions are out of the way, come in!  In in in!”  Mrs McClain’s animated waves-of-hands ushered everyone in.  “I’ll have to call your father, Lance, and your sisters and brothers and your aunties and uncles, oh, and you’re grandparents!  They’ll all want to know that you’re alive and well.”

   The group wandered into the McClain residence, following Lance and Mrs McClain.  The house had the welcoming smell that every well-loved home had.  Everyone was finally able to relax, especially since the house had the air conditioning running.

   Mrs McClain began to speak as they passed an open sitting room and a closed door.  “I’ve been looking after little Peter since Jodie and-”

   “Wait.”  Lance’s steps slowed as his mother continued into the house and around a corner.  In the kitchen, the small sounds of a baby could be heard, happy to see his grandmother’s face again.  “Who’s Peter?”

   “Peter!”  Mrs McClain returned with a baby in her arms, squealing and smiling as drool ran down his chin and the fingers in his mouth.  “He just turned 6 months old the other week! Isn’t he-”

   Mrs McClain’s voice stopped when she saw Lance’s confused expression.

   “Oh, Lance…”  She bounced the baby on her hip and stepped towards Lance.  “Jodie and Luis had another baby: little Peter Lance McClain.”

   Lance ran his hand through the baby’s silky hair.  “Peter… Lance?”

   Mrs McClain smiled softly.  “They named him after you since… well, we wanted to remember you.”

   Baby Peter laughed and put his little fingers around Lance’s hand.  He squealed again when Lance removed his hand from his head and let the baby play with his long, thin fingers.

   “And Veronica is engaged now, to a man from Nigeria, Hakeem,” Mrs McClain added as Lance continued to play with the baby.  “He’s so nice, and I still cannot believe they’re engaged.”

   “How did she meet him?”  Lance’s voice was flat.

   “On a research trip.”

   Peter reached out to be held by Lance, so Mrs McClain released Peter from her hold and set him into Lance’s arms.  He bounced the boy a few times, smiling when he squealed and smiled, reaching out with his tiny fingers to investigate Lance’s hair and jacket.  He squirmed in Lance's arms, fascinated by the new people he could now look at.

   “When did they get engaged?” Lance asked as a pulled the string on his hoodie out of Peter's mouth.

   “Oh, a few months ago,” Mrs McClain replied.

   “And how's Marco?”

   “He's doing well.  He finally decided to go back to college to get his master's.”

   “Rachel?”

   “The band’s not exactly world-famous, but I think they are playing some places other than bars and clubs.”

   “And Dad?”

   “Better.  He got his knee surgery and went back to work.”

   “Did it get that bad?”

   “He's not a spring chicken anymore, and he forgets that sometimes.”  Mrs McClain adjusted her dress.  “But the military aid had really helped him keep his job and cover medical expenses, especially when…”

   Her voice trailed off as she looked over Lance's shoulder to the other paladins who were still standing all together, Hunk waving at Peter and letting him squeeze his finger.

   “I'm sorry, I just- my mind went elsewhere.  Why doesn't everyone come in and get comfortable?  I'll call up everyone up and we can have a nice meal.  I'm sure your father and get some chicken and vegetables and I can get some rice going and a dessert!  What do you all want to eat?  I'm sure I can-”

   “Mama.”  Lance put his hand on his mother's hands.  “We don't need all that. Leftovers are fine.  Or just something small.”

   Mrs McClain was about to protest, but the softness in Lance’s eyes changed her.

   “How about some arroz con pollo?  I’m sure I can make enough for everyone.”

   “That sounds absolutely amazing.”

   Lance finally noticed Peter drooling away on the lace of his hoodie.

   “Peter!  No! Not food!”  Lance gently removed the clothing from the baby’s mouth, earning him a frustrated whine.

   “Come this way, everyone!”  Mrs McClain began to walk deeper into the house.  “We have plenty of space.”

   The paladins followed Lance’s mother down the main hallway and into a carpeted room with a couch and easy chair.  A coffee table sat in the middle of the room with a bouquet of bright flowers on top, and one wall was made of all windows, a glass sliding door leading to a grassy backyard.  Two other walls were covered with framed photos and drawings with a few crosses and crucifixes thrown in. There was one picture of Lance in his Garrison uniform on the mantle, a candle and some dried flowers sitting around it.

   “Go ahead and have a seat anywhere you’d like,” Mrs McClain said as she gestured to the seats.

   The paladins all squeezed onto the couches, Lance setting Peter in his lap and bouncing him gently on his knee.

   “I have to make phone calls now.  Lance, if Peter gets fussy, just put him on his blanket and give him some of his little toys.  He’s usually happy after that.”

  “Hear that little guy?”  Lance stopped bouncing Peter and put his nose to Peter’s tiny one.  “If you cry, you get toys? Sounds like a good deal to me, huh?”

   Peter squealed when Lance popped a loud kiss onto his forehead.

   “So this is where you grew up?”  Shiro asked as he eyed the pictures of Lance in his younger days.

   “Yup!  Though my parents did do some rearranging and redecorating since I went to the Garrison.  No more kids in the house meant they could finally paint and stuff.”

   Shiro kept looking at the photos, examining each frame and face.  Some obviously did not contain Lance as there were only three young children in them.  The black and white photos of a young Mr and Mrs McClain caught Shiro’s eye, particularly the one of the young man, maybe teenager, in a crisp military uniform.  A handful of the photos of Mr McClain showed him in a military uniform, some with Mrs McClain standing beside him, but as the photos became more recent, he slowly transitioned to casual clothing.  The resemblance of young Mr McClain to Lance shocked Shiro. They were nearly identical.

   Off in the kitchen, Mrs McClain spoke rich, rapid Spanish into the telephone, quickly dialing number after number after talking for a few minutes to the person on the other line.

   “So… Lance,” Shiro timidly started again.  “Your father… did he serve in the military?”

   “US Navy.”  Lance’s focus was still mainly on baby Peter.  “He met my mom while stationed here in Cuba. He got pretty high up in the ranks, too.  You’d have to ask my mom. She knows all of the details better than I do, especially since I was born after he finished his service.”

   Shiro nodded, still gazing at the photos, linger longer on the baby pictures of Lance on one area of the wall.

   “So, uh, what’s ‘allo con porroz?’”  Pidge asked, carefully choosing her Spanish words

   “Arroz con pollo,” Lance corrected.  “It’s chicken with rice in a sort of tomato sauce.  My mom serves it with lots of vegetables. It’s really good.”

   “I hope so.”  Pidge leaned back and rubbed her stomach.  “I’m starving!”

   “Do you guys want drinks?”  Lance asked as he stood, Peter still in his arms.  “We have water, obviously, and maybe ice tea and-”

   The sound of the front door slamming and heavy footsteps getting close made all of the paladins turn towards the entrance to the house.  In the doorway, a tall man stood, cheeks flushed, sweating and panting for breath. He was middle-aged, well-built for his age, and had obviously been outdoors most of the day.  His hair was dark with streaks of grey, a matching thick mustache above his lip. When his eyes met Lance’s, he stopped frozen. Lance’s words stopped just like his father, jaw going slack, eyes softening.

   “Lance?”  His father’s voice was deep and scratchy, but his names spoken so softly was the sweetest melody Lance had ever heard.

   “Dad.”  Before Lance could get out any other words, his father was rushing towards him, arms outstretched.  Lance quickly reacted and placed baby Peter in Shiro’s lap before he crashed into his father’s embrace.  He wrapped his arms around Lance as soon as he touched him, nothing think about the action. Suddenly, Lance was embraced, startled at the action, but relaxed the second after.  They both squeezed each other tighter than ever before. Time stopped for an instant as they both came to the realization that, yes, in fact, what they were holding was really there.

   “L-Lance… I…”  Mr McClain’s words were breaking.  “I thought- I knew that you- you were-”

   “Dad…”  When his father’s voice cracked and his back trembled, Lance hugged tighter, feeling his father cry for the very first time.

   “I prayed every day for you to return, that you would be okay,” Mr McClain said as he broke their embrace and stared Lance in the eyes through watering ones, gripping both of his shoulders.  “I…” Mr McClain scooped Lance back into a hug. “I love you, Lance.”

   Slowly, Lance put his hands on his father’s back.  He pushed his eyes into his shoulder. “I love you, too, Dad.”

   The two men tentatively pulled out of their hug, Mr McClain adjusting his shirt after the release.

   “You met Peter?” he said as he patted Peter’s head.  “He’s a real cutie.”

   “Yeah.”  Lance smiled but wrung his hands.  “These are… these are the people I was with for all that time.”

   Mr McClain looks to the paladins sitting around the living room.  “It wasn’t just you and the other Garrison students.”

   Lance shook his head.

   “Well, you might as well introduce.”  Mr McClain chuckled. “I can’t guarantee I'll remember their names.”

   Lance gestured to each Paladin as he said their name.  “Pidge, Hunk, Keith, Coran, Allura, and Shiro.”

   “It’s nice to meet you all.  Thank you for keeping my boy safe.”

   “We’ve all been watching out for each other,” Shiro chimed in.  “He’s saved our hides more than once.”

   Mr McClain nodded to Shiro, understandingly and solemnly.  His eyes went to Lance again, softening as Shiro’s words fully sunk in.  Maybe Lance didn’t just look like his father.

   “Lance, Harry.”  Mrs McClain walked into the room, phone still in hand.  “Luis and Jodie will be over once Junior and Mariana are done with school, and Veronica and Marco are going to video call us in a few hours.  And I’ll need help with dinner… Harry.”

   “Yes, ma’am!”  Mr McClain soluted his wife and smiled before heading into the kitchen.

   “I’ll help, too, Mama,” Lance added and began to follow his father.

   “Oh no.”  Mrs McClain put up a hand to stop Lance from going any farther.  “You’re going to stay right here. You’ve been gone for much too long and-”

   “Exactly, Mama.”  Lance gently put his hand on his mother’s to lower it.  “I haven’t gotten to spend time cooking with you, singing with you, laughing with you”  -Lance let a small, melancholy smile crept onto his face- “even just seeing you.”

   “Oh, Lance!”  Mrs McClain dabbed at her eyes with her fingertips.  “Bless your sweet heart! You are just too much for me!”

   “Mama… don’t cry.”

   “It’s not my fault!”

   Mrs McClain playfully pinched Lance’s cheeks as they left the room, leaving to other alone once again.  Baby Peter was very fascinated with the metal covering Shiro’s shoulder and took to investigating it with his hands and mouth.

   “Isn’t Lance’s mom adorable?”  Hunk commented when the McClain’s were out of earshot.

   “She really is,” Allura giggled.  “And so is this little one. Hello Peter.”

   Peter looked towards Allura and smiled widely, a single tooth barely peeking through his pink gums.  He smiled even wider when Allura waved at him and Coran puffed his cheeks out to make a funny face.

   “He is cute,” Shiro smiled as he held Peter up to he could too around.

   “And he’s so comfortable with other people,” Hunk said.  “Usually kids his age hate when other people hold them.”

  “He really isn’t fussy, is he?”

   Peter looked over to Hunk and squealed, bouncing in Shiro’s arms.

   “You want Hunk to hold you?”  Shiro stood, balancing Peter in one arm, and met Hunk halfway across the room.  Peter was more than delighted to have Hunk giving him all of his attention.

   “I just don’t understand why people love babies so much,” Pidge commented.  “They’re loud and smelly and can’t do anything.”

   “I think it’s because they’re so little and innocent,” Hunk replied.  “Plus they so chubby!”

   “I guess he is kinda cute…” Pidge leaned over and looked at Peter, giving him just enough time to reach out and grab at her glasses.  Pidge quickly leaned back and repositioned her glasses on her face. “But I think babies just aren’t my thing.”

   Peter whimpered as Pidge reeled back, losing his new toy in an instant.

   “Don’t cry, buddy.”  Hunk leaned down and picked a green, hard-rubber ring with a cartoon face on one nub, and smaller, colorful nubs around the rest of the ring.  Upon Peter receiving the toy, he immediately stuck it in his mouth and began to gnaw on the side with the face.

   “So… How many siblings does Lance have?”  Keith asked.

   “Three,” Hunk immediately responded.  “The oldest is Luis, then Veronica, then Marco, and then Lance, of course.  Luis is married to Jodie and has two, well now three, kids: Luis Junior, Mariana, and Peter.  He had been married since we went to the Garrison which makes Luis now…” -Hunk did some quick mental math- “6 and Marianna 3 or 4.”

   Shiro nodded along as Hunk told about Lance’s family and how he and Lance had gotten to become friends.  But soon his eyes wandered back to the pictures hanging on the walls. The older ones, particularly those of young Mrs and Mr McClain, reminded him so much of those hanging in his family’s homes.  Shiro smiled at Mr McClain holding who Shiro assumed was baby Luis, Mr McClain trying so hard to get the child to look into the camera and smile. Shiro’s eyes glossed over this McClain timeline until he spotted a photo of Lance is his gray and orange Garrison uniform, smiling proudly with his family around him, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins included.

    _He looks so happy,_ Shiro thought as he went Lance’s proud acceptance day to Lance in the Garrison’s track and field uniform, holding medals and trophies alongside groups of other boys dressed just like him.

   _How did I not know he was on the track team.  What events of those? Some relay and… hurdles?_

  “Shiro.  Shiro.  Shiro.  Shi-ro.”

  Shiro quickly blinked his eyes when name finally got through the wall of his daydreaming.  Everyone else was staring directly at him, including Peter, no one looking particularly happy.

   “What do you think?”  Keith asked as though Shiro had the slightest idea what he was talking about.

   “Huh?”

   Keith sighed.  “When should we get contact with the Garrison and tell them what’s going down?  Today or tomorrow? Pidge, Allura, and I think we should do that tonight, but Hunk and Coran think we should wait until tomorrow.  Since you’re the leader, you should have the final say.”

  “Um…”  Contacting the Garrison?  Oh yeah… the entire universe was in the process of being taken over by blood-thirsty, fascist alien warlords, and every precious second counted when it came to trying to save entire galactic races, especially from somehow untouched planets - such as Earth.  The humanity-saving leader in Shiro said seize the moment and gain the upper hand when it came reinforcing Earth’s defenses and potentially overpowering the Galran forces, but there was another sweet voice worming its sweet way in. Those memories of Lance finally seeing his family again after an eternity just moments ago, being shocked by all the change, holding baby Peter for the first time, seeing the all of the photos on the walls and the unconditional love being poured out on Lance: all of them flooded Shiro’s mind, fogging his judgment when it came to the overall well being of literally all of existence.  But what’s the point of not letting one person be happy for one day if the chances of everyone dying within the next week is about 95%?

   “Let’s wait,” Shiro finally said.  “We’ll give them a call then figure out how to get there are give all the info we have.”

   “But- We- The Galra are coming!”  Allura protested. “We can’t just sit around!”

   “We haven’t had a break in years!”  Hunk defended.

   “What about my mom and dad?  And Matt and everyone else?” Pidge argued.  “We are the defenders of the universe, including Earth!”

   “But we need to strategize!”  Coran chimed in. “We’ve moved too fast in the past and fell into trouble.”

   “We’ve made it this far without overthinking!  Why can’t we do it now?”

   Voice raised as the debated heated up.  Shiro rested his head on his fist as the other paladins continued to argue, defending their stance with passion.  However, Keith remained silent. His eyes stayed fixed on Shiro, watching his eyes drift from the group to the photos hanging on the wall once again, more specifically focusing on those of Lance Keith figured out when he turned his head to followed Shiro’s line of sight.  Then the memories Keith had of Lance confessing his homesickness to him came back, as well as Shiro’s obvious fondness for Lance. A spicy aroma wafted from the kitchen a few doors down, once again reminding Keith that Lance was finally home, cooking with his parents for the first time in years - and perhaps the last time.

   “We’re waiting,” Keith announced, crossing his arms.

   “What?  Now you want to waste time, too?”  Allura was obviously annoyed.

   “If Shiro says we should wait, we wait.  He is the leader after all.”

   “But he-”

   “He’s the leader.”  Keith shot Allura a glare which silenced her as well as the rest of the group.  Keith looked to Shiro again, who had not made a sound or movement. “We listen to him.”

   “Fine…”  Allura grumbled, crossing her arms and slumping back into the couch.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do something for S7, and since they said they're be going home, why not jump on the bandwagon of Lance getting to see his family again? And hey, let's just throw some Shance in there for funsies.
> 
> Again, chapter 2 will go up at some point, but idk when.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I really hope you enjoyed this fic! Don’t forget to check out my [other works](https://archiveofourown.com/users/okay_klepto) as well. As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated, and please consider making a small [Ko-fi donation](https://ko-fi.com/okayklepto) if you enjoy my writing!


End file.
